“There’s nothing from a legal perspective that’s obligating you to share this information,” Chris recalled the lawyer saying. Chris said that TVCD’s pastor stood firmly against TVC’s pushback, saying, “Regardless whether it is legal or not, the right thing to do is to share this information.”
“I felt strong, strong pressure from The Village Church main campus to not share this information,” Chris said, adding that he remembers one of TVC’s pastors saying that “this information in the wrong hands could take down The Village Church and it could take down the Chandlers.”
By the end of the leadership meeting, TVC and TVCD agreed to share a joint statement with their congregations. However, Chris said that TVC later decided not to share it.
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In the statement to the congregation, TVCD elders said that, to their knowledge, no current staff members had a “history of perpetrating sexual abuse.” They said, “our brother Steve Chandler, who served as the custodian of the Denton Campus,” is “the only exception.”
“Steve himself made us aware of his history through sharing his testimony of God’s transforming grace in his life,” the elders said. “Steve first shared his testimony publicly with members of The Village Church in Highland Village through the Recovery Ministry, before he was hired on staff.”
“Steve’s testimony included him vulnerably sharing many of his past sins, including his past sin of child sexual abuse 40 years ago,” the elders continued, saying it was “a sin and crime Steve had first voluntarily confessed to the District Attorney and court of law 40 years ago.”
The statement indicated that TVCD didn’t directly hire Steve and was unaware of his child sex abuse until he personally shared it with his supervisor. A background check was run on Steve but didn’t reveal his past abuse.
After his supervisor was made aware of Steve history of sexual abuse, the elders said that “specific safety standards and protocols were immediately put around Steve that he humbly, and to our knowledge, faithfully submitted himself to during the rest of his tenure of staff.”
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The elders said that they would not “ever hire someone on our church staff who has a history of child sex abuse in their past” and “would immediately report the abuse to the authorities so that an investigation can begin” if an allegation of sexual abuse was ever made against a staff member.
“We would suspend the staff member from their active responsibilities as we work with the authorities to move forward in an investigation,” the elders said. “[Based] on the direction given to us by the authorities, we would communicate with the church as much information as possible.”
